What if
by Teddylonglong
Summary: ONE-SHOT. Three IFs with far reaching consequences for Harry Potter. Set at Halloween, 1981. Completely AU.


**What if...**  
 **by Healer Pomfrey**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

 **What if Sirius Black did not go after Peter Pettigrew that night?**

Unbeknownst to everyone but Sirius and his best friend, due to working together at the Auror division of the Ministry of Magic, he and James were wearing invisible necklaces with pendants that were linked to each other.

It was in the early evening of Halloween that Sirius' pendant heated up, causing him to pull out the pendant from under his shirt, staring at it in horror.

 _'James, Harry,'_ he thought, terrified, as he readied himself to apparate straight to the Potters' residence, hoping that he'd be able to save his best friend and his family. However, by the time he arrived in front of the entrance door, he immediately knew that it was too late. The door was standing wide open, and when he looked upstairs, he witnessed a green spell flashing up just where he knew Harry's nursery to be.

Without further thinking, Sirius dashed into the house and, realising that there was nothing that he could do for James, who was lying lifelessly on the ground floor, ran upstairs as fast as possible in spite of the fact that parts of the house were collapsing as he went.

Forcing himself to not shout for Lily or Harry, as there was a possibility that Voldemort was still there, he carefully entered the half-way destroyed nursery, only to assure himself that Lily was gone as well.

However, before he could begin to search for his godson, a small wail penetrated his ears.

"Harry!" he shouted, finding a bright light lighten the darkness that was surrounding his mind upon the horrible scenery. Within an instant, he reached the crib, where his godson was standing with his hands on the rails, crying. Strangely, it penetrated his mind that the baby was wearing a light blue sweater. _'Does that even matter?'_ he scolded himself in total disbelief.

He let himself sink to the floor right next to the crib, pulling the baby onto his lap. "Harry," he sobbed, cuddling the boy close.

"Paf," Harry replied in a soft voice, interrupting his sobs to welcome his godfather's presence.

"Yes Harry, Padfoot is here for you," he reassured the baby, who seemingly relaxed as he nestled deep into Sirius' robes, his right thumb wandering into his mouth.

Sirius remained where he was, holding on to his godson like a lifeline, while the tears were flowing down his cheeks. He did not know how much time had passed, when he heard sounds from downstairs that alerted him to the presence of someone. He only knew that whoever it was he did not want to see anyone in this catastrophic night.

 **What if Albus Dumbledore went himself to get little Harry?**

Sirius rose from the floor, cradling his godson close to his chest, before he drew his wand and stared at the door. To his relief, it was not a Death Eater but no other than Albus Dumbledore who finally entered the room.

"Headmaster," Sirius acknowledged the older wizard's presence.

To his shock, Dumbledore immediately pulled his wand and pointed it at Sirius, causing Sirius to inwardly groan, as realisation set in. _'Oh no, don't tell me that James and Lily didn't inform him of the change of the Secret Keeper.'_

"It was Peter," he spoke up. "We changed the Secret Keeper three weeks ago."

"Is that so?" Dumbledore queried, apparently not impressed by Sirius' announcement. "However it might be, I'm going to take the boy to safety. He seems to have vanquished Voldemort. He'll be a hero in our world, and he needs to grow up safely. Give him to me."

"No," Sirius outright refused. "He's my godson, and Lily and James made it very clear in their will that Harry is supposed to grow up with me."

Dumbledore let out a snort. "If they'd changed the Secret Keeper, I'm sure that they'd have informed me. I'm sorry Mr. Black, but I don't trust you."

He reached out to take Harry from him and, while Sirius' mind shouted, _'Nooooo,'_ he was too perplex to actively fight the old wizard.

Sirius observed in shock how the old wizard examined the scar on the baby's forehead, nodding in apparent contentedness.

However, this did not go well with Harry. "Paf!" he shouted and began to scream in apparent desperation, before he let out a bout of accidental magic and beamed himself back into his godfather's arms, while the old wizard was flung backwards against the wall.

"Headmaster, you're not going to take Harry from me," Sirius said in a firm voice. "Why don't we call Remus? He definitely knows that Peter was the Secret Keeper."

Hope flared up in his mind, when the headmaster sent out a Patronus to Remus Lupin, while Harry's breathing evened out as he relaxed in Sirius' arms.

 **What if Remus Lupin was aware of the change of the Secret Keeper?**

After a few minutes of complete silence, Remus entered the room, his eyes widened in shock.

"Peter!" the werewolf growled, waves of anger coming from the usually gentle man.

"Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore spoke up, giving the younger wizard a sharp look. "Who was the Potters' Secret Keeper?"

"Peter Pettigrew," Remus replied, his voice laced with disgust.

"Are you absolutely certain?" Dumbledore enquired.

"Yes sir," Remus confirmed. "I'm willing to swear an oath about it."

"Very well," the old wizard said, pensively. "I suggest that we move to my office at Hogwarts, so that Poppy can take a look at little Harry's head wound, while I contact the Aurors."

Against his own feeling that told him to grab Harry and return to Potter Manor, where Sirius was still living after James' parents' death, Sirius agreed, and the two Marauders joined the headmaster in his office at Hogwarts.

HP

While Dumbledore and Sirius explained to the Aurors what had happened at Godric's Hollow earlier, Poppy Pomfrey took her time to examine Harry, muttering to herself as she proceeded. Finally she spoke up, making all eyes in the room turn to her.

"Harry is magically exhausted and will probably sleep for a day or two. However, there's something dark behind this scar, and I wish to call head healer O'Brian from St. Mungo's as well as Inken from Goblin Island and Bandhu, one of the elder elves, to ask them if they have a clue as to how to remove the thing before it'll be able to cause him trouble. I'll take Harry with me to the hospital wing."

"I'll accompany you," Sirius spoke up in a no-nonsense voice, before turning to Dumbledore. "Headmaster, I'm going to become Harry's guardian. If you don't agree, I'm going to take him, and you'll never see us again."

"Sirius," Dumbledore replied, pensively, "I'll see you in the hospital wing in a few minutes' time."

HP

While the wizard, the goblin and the elf examined Harry, talking to each other in hushed voices, Sirius was sitting on the bed next to Harry, only looking up, absentminded, when first Remus and later the headmaster joined him, accompanied by Minerva McGonagall.

Together, they observed how the healers seemed to agree on a procedure, the goblin waved her hands over the baby, and finally a small, black cloud moved out from Harry's scar, where the elf captured it into an orb, only to banish it an instant later.

Finally, the healers turned to the wizards, who were patiently waiting for the horror to end. "We believe that a small part of the soul of his parents' murderer nestled into his head behind the scar," Healer O'Brian informed them. "Everything had been taken out and banished by now. Harry is now safe."

Sirius profusely thanked the three healers, before he turned to Pomfrey. "Poppy, may I take Harry with me?"

HP

Before the old witch could do as much as frown upon the request, Dumbledore spoke up. "Sirius, I agree that you become Harry's guardian under the condition that you live and raise him at Hogwarts."

Seeing Sirius stare at the headmaster in surprise, McGonagall spoke up. "Mr. Black, we can offer you the position of the professor for Arithmancy, while Mr. Lupin could help you raise Harry and teach him as he gets older."

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look of excitement at the prospect of raising Harry together at Hogwarts, before Sirius accepted the position.

When everyone but Sirius and Remus had left, Sirius leaned over to Harry, "I'm going to raise you as my own son, and we're going to have much fun, that I can promise you, Harry James Potter Black."

 **The End**

 **Happy Halloween!**


End file.
